| Issue 320 | June 4, 2001 |
The
NYC Transit 2001 operating budget identifies savings of up to $6.5 million
from removal of 235 part-time subway token clerks from 129 subway
stations across NYC.The agency
has not released detailed plans, but neighborhood, transit labor and police
groups launched preemptory criticism of the move at a rally last Wednesday.Because
token booth workers are, as one officer told the Daily News, “the
front line of defense for both the public and the police,” critics fear
the cut will encourage crime and reduce subway safety.With
Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel, the groups called on the MTA to
hold hearings on the plan and to release data on the number of
911 calls placed from part-time token booths.
An
MTA spokesman told the News and the NY Post that token clerks
would be reassigned to “the business of serving customers directly”
in the stations. If this is accurate, automation of fare-vending need not
come at the cost of public safety.Critics
are likely to continue to be suspicious, however, because it is difficult
to see how savings would be realized if clerks are reassigned to station
duty and because the MTA has cut hundreds of clerk positions in the past
without reassigning them as customer service representatives (MTR
#70,
208).
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